Meghan’s baffling move in new Netflix show: ‘Spectacular own goal’
‘Spectacular own goal’: Meghan’s Netflix show has welcomed into the room a truly enormous elephant – and it’s painfully uncomfortable.
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Just like the festive period itself, Meghan’s new Netflix special has two major themes: Christmas and family.
Given it’s literally called With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, the first is obviously no big surprise. The second? Well, it welcomes into the room an enormous elephant for the Duchess of Sussex – which stays conspicuously present throughout the episode.
In the show’s first few minutes, Meghan gushes over her love of honouring her “family’s story” and the “passage of time”. And in a rather dramatic juxtaposition, as the show premiered on Wednesday, Meghan’s estranged father was undergoing an emergency and lifesaving operation to amputate his foot and lower leg. Mr Markle – with whom Meghan lived from the age of 11 to 18 – has not spoken to his daughter since her 2018 royal wedding, after she was left “furious” when he was caught staging paparazzi photos in an apparent bid to generate a positive public image.
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He also has never met his two grandchildren: Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four.
“My only wish before I die is to meet my grandkids. I want them to know I love them and care for them,” he told the Mail on Sunday in September.
(A spokesperson for the Sussexes told news.com.au on Friday, US time, that Meghan had “reached out” to her father following news of his serious health issues).
Meanwhile, during her Netflix holiday special, the beaming duchess spoke about how her Christmas tree boosted her connection to her roots.
“I just love having a tree up. There’s something about it that … in one area of your house you’re able to really encapsulate your family’s story, really feel the passage of time and the chapters of your life through different ornaments,” she told viewers.
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Then, minutes later, while hosting well-known restaurateur Will Guidara for some festive demonstrations, Meghan paid tribute to what was apparently one of her favourite UK-based Christmas customs.
“I love Christmas crackers … living in the UK, it’s just such a part of Christmas holidays, for sure,” she explained.
“Typically people cross arms and do it, so they sit around the table and they all pull at the same time. It actually does feel really connected.”
Given that Meghan spent exactly two Christmases with Prince Harry in the UK, in 2017 and 2018, where she joined the royal family’s traditional celebrations at Sandringham, it feels safe to assume she’s referring to her time with them.
Meghan – and Harry, to an extent – is now also reportedly estranged from her husband’s family following a turbulent few years, so that cosy scene of being “connected” as they “cross arms” is now a fairly uncomfortable reference.
Why then, is she drawing so much attention to it? Just like pointedly nodding to her “family’s story” at a time when she is reportedly on speaking terms with just one member of her immediate family: her mum, Doria Ragland?
Much has been said and done on all fronts when it comes to the multiple Markle/Sussex/Windsor threads of conflict, and the truth about who’s to blame is clearly subjective.
Certainly, despite the sad reality of Meghan’s father living a reclusive life, cut off from his daughter and pining for connection with the grandkids he’s unlikely to ever meet, an argument could be made that he brought it on himself with his bizarre media antics at a time when his daughter needed support and discretion.
And when it comes to the senior royals’ rift with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – well, let’s just maintain that “recollections” – and opinions – “may vary” on exactly who first offended who.
But the core issue here is that, as is so often the case with Meghan, she just can’t seem to help herself when it comes to publicly contradicting herself.
Spending almost 50 minutes highlighting the significance of family connection and traditions while openly disconnected from her own is a fairly spectacular own goal in the face of ongoing criticism about inauthenticity.
That is, unless some of those baubles on her tree outlining the “chapters” of her life happen to have some kind of tableau displaying her recent rifts with relatives, hidden away from the cameras.
… But that seems unlikely.
Originally published as Meghan’s baffling move in new Netflix show: ‘Spectacular own goal’
